Annotations by Andy Witte

Dwight Beasley - Andy Witte
St. Louis 1989
Sicilian Dragon

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 I knew Dwight would not go in for a sharp line. I think the Dragon is the easiest Sicilian variation to play as long as white doesn't castle queenside. 6.Be2 I was right. 6...Bg7 7.O-O O-O 8.Bg5 Nc6 9.Kh1!? Bd7 10.f4? This doesn't work. Maybe the knight needs to go to b3 first. 10...Ne4! 11.Ne4 Bd4 12.Nd6! White makes the best of it. 12...f6 13.Nb7 Qc7 14.Bh6 Qb7 During the game I considered moving the rook, since the knight is trapped. It was only years later that I "saw" 13. . . . Rc8?? 14. Nc5! 15.Bf8 Rf8 16.c3 Bb6 17.Bc4 Kg7 18.b4 How to evaluate this position? Well, black has two pieces for the rook and pawn. However the next several moves I concentrated more on making hollow threats than on carrying out any actual plan. Meanwhile, white plays to get his queenside passers rolling. 18...Rd8 19.Qf3 Qc7 20.Bb3 Bf5 21.Ba4 Rd6 22.Rad1 Nd8 23.Bb3 Nf7 24.c4 Suddenly it looks like black is in trouble. 24...Qc8 25.c5 Rd1 26.Qd1 Bc7 27.Qd5 e6 28.Qc4 g5! Finally black starts a plan. White's kingside is vulnerable. 29.fg Ng5 30.b5 Qe8 31.Qe2 Qg6 Hoping against hope to get the queen to the h6 square, since white has taken away the h5 square. 32.Rd1 e5 32...Be5 33.Rd7 Kh6 Doesn't work well, since the king gets in the way of the attack. It was too bad that e5 had to be played though, since it blocks off the black square bishop for a while. 33.Qc4 Ne4! 34.Qg8 34.Qf1. 34...Kh6 35.Qg6 It is understandable that white wants to trade off the queens. However he missed the tactics that 33...Ne4 initiated. 35...hg 36.Rc1 Nf2 37.Kg1 Nd3 38.Rc4 Nc5 Now black almost has a won game. 39.Bc2 Bc2 40.Rc2 Bb6 41.Kf1 Kg5 I don't think this is a particularly difficult endgame to win, although white tries to complicate. Unfortunately for him, his queenside pawns are completely neutralized. 42.Rc4 f5 43.a4 Nd3 44.Rc6? Nb2! 45.h4 45.Rb6 ab 46.a5 Nc4 47.a6 Ne3 48.Ke2 Nd5 49.a7 Nc7. 45...Kh5 46.g3 e4 47.Rc8 Na4 48.Rh8 Kg4 49.Kg2 f4 50.gf Kf4 51.Kh3 e3 52.Rf8 Ke4 53.Kg4 Nc3 54.Kg5 Kd3 55.Rf1 e2 56.Rh1 Bf2 57.Kg6 e1Q 58.Re1 Be1 59.h5 Nb5 [0:1]

Andy Witte - Behrooz Vakil
St. Louis, 1998
Grunfeld Defense

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg5 c6 More usual is 5...Ne4, but many players are unaware of this unnatural looking move. There is nothing wrong with 5...c6 though. 6.e3 O-O 7.Bd3 Qa5 8.O-O Bg4? This move leads to a very difficult position, and is in fact almost losing. Correct is 8...dc 9.Bc4 Bg4. 9.cd! cd 10.h3 Bf3? 10...Be6 would have been better since now the d-pawn is very weak. 11.Qf3 Rd8 12.a3 At the time of the game I thought that this was a very strong move. However, another idea that may have been even better was 12. b4! when 12...Qxb4 is met by 13. Bxf6 with a big advantage due to the falling d-pawn. 12...Rd7 This is an awful square for the rook, but it appears to be the best move. 13.b4 Qd8 14.Na4 Forcing, or at least encouraging, another weakness. 14...b6 15.Rac1 h6 16.Bh4 Now the threat is Bb5 which would completely tie black up. 16.Bf6 Bf6 17.Bb5 Rd6 18.Rc2 Nd7 19.Rfc1 was also playable, but I didn't (and don't) see a clear follow-up. My move maintains the pressure and keeps black on a difficult defense. 16...Rd6 17.b5 Now black cannot get any play on the queenside at all. 17...Nbd7 18.Bg3 Re6 19.Nc3 Nf8 Black grimly holds on. 20.Rc2 Rc8 21.Rfc1 21.Nd5 Nd5 22.Rc8 Qc8 23.Qd5 Qc3 is not clear. 21...Kh8 To avoid Nxd5 which is now a real threat. 22.Be5 Threatening to win a pawn cold by taking the knight. 22...N8h7 23.h4 Preventing Ng5. 23...h5 24.Ne2! Rc2 25.Rc2 Ng4 Black is in a desperate situation since his rook on e6 is about to get hit with Nf4. Unfortunately for him his f-pawn hangs after this move. 26.Qf7 Re5! A good try. I spent a lot of time on my next move. While I was thinking, a pretty big crowd gathered. I think some may have thought I had missed black's last. However, I was actually simply trying to find the clearest win. If 26...Ne5 (the move I expected) 27.de Re5 28.Nf4 Nf8 29.Ng6 Ng6 30.Qg6 Kg8 31.Bf5. 27.Nf4! Behrooz after the game mentioned that he thought I had something against his last move but did not expect a mate in one threat to decide the game. 27.de?? Ne5. 27...Nf8 28.Ng6 Ng6 29.Qg6 Re4 30.Be4 de 31.Qe6 Qd6? 31...Qg8 32.Rc8 Bf8 33.Qe4 Nf6 34.Qf5 is overwhelming. After black's move the finish is even simpler. 32.Rc8 Kh7 33.Qg8 Kg6 Only as I annotate the game do I see that black was threatening ...Qh2+. Perhaps this is why black tried this line rather than the forced 31...Qg8. 34.Rc6 Nf6 35.Rd6 ed 36.Qb8 1 - 0